Fern Gully and the Phalaenopsis

Remember this movie? Robin Williams was the voice of a deranged bat and it was about our shrinking Rain Forest. My son reminded me of it the other day when I asked him to hoe the flower beds for me. He suggested that the last time he did the beds they resembled "FERN GULLY". Cute flick...bad analogy.

Every year in mid-March I prep the flower beds in front and in back of my house and plant flowers for the spring/summer season. I made several trips to purchase the flats of blooms this year and came home empty handed three separate times. I ended up planting the flowers I bought in beds at work. Made the grounds look great, but my yard...not so much.

Of course I'm not working any more so I have no flowers to enjoy. We've been in the house for many years and I can't remember the last time I didn't have flowers out there. So this wasn't my best moment and I've been kind of bummed out. Right now it's too hot to plant, but I plan to get some hearty bloomers for the fall/winter seasons. In the meantime I have to keep the flower beds in good shape. Hence the son sent to hoe and the Fern Gully reference.

My blues over no flowers in the yard led me to try someting new. My most recent experiment is in growing an orchid plant. Am I starting to sound like a dotty old lady now? You know what with the orchid growing. Hmmm...just thought of that. That's sort of a scary thought. I'll have to ponder that some more.

Anyway, this particular orchid plant is called a Moth Orchid or Phalaenopsis. It's s supposed to be a great beginner plant. Which in plant speak means that I shouldn't be able to screw it up. I'm thrilled because it is continuing to bloom and the suckers only bloom once a year, so you have to get the gusto while you can. They can get as many as 10 blooms a year. I have four so far with a fifth just budding. This is one of those things that really makes me happy just to look at it.

Check it out: